


Over the Hills and Far Away

by Equinoxes



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Human Names Used, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-11 22:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3335069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Equinoxes/pseuds/Equinoxes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After rudely interrupting Roderich's precious tea time, Gilbert convinces the man to come with him to a place where they often played at when they were children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Hills and Far Away

_Tis o'er the hills and far away_

_Tis o'er the hills and far away_

_Tis o'er the hills and far away_

_The wind has blown my plaid away_

                         

Roderich kept forgetting how good relaxation felt like.

He tries to keep his Sundays free; it was his favourite day out of all the others. After a long week of business meetings, signing papers, and other diplomatic duties, he was relieved to sit and wind down. Usually he would play on his precious piano and eat some cakes but today was especially nice so he took his relaxation outside.

It was a nice and sunny day, the perfect weather to go outside and have a cup of tea while staring at the picturesque landscape of his country. He had everything prepared from the perfectly polished silverware to the fine tea he imported from England.

In his lap was the latest edition of the _Wiener Zeitung._ He flipped through the pages as he read about political affairs, what’s going on in Austria, world news, etc. Of course, he didn’t need to have to read it since he knew about everything that was going on in Austria but it gave him a peace of mind.

In his right hand was a porcelain cup of Earl Grey tea fresh from the pot. The cup was decorated with red and pink flowers with a gold border around the rim. He even had a matching plate to go along with it and it held a slice of decadent chocolate cake.

Roderich didn’t have the chance of taking one sip of tea before the white-haired, red-eyed barbarian came barging through the veranda with a wicked and maniacal smile. Roderich nearly cracked the cup when he saw Gilbert and he would do so if it weren’t that he had manners.

“Hey Roddy, I was wondering if-“

“Whatever it is, no,” Roderich curtly said. He once made the mistake of going along with one of Gilbert’s “awesome plans” and it ended up with the both of them in jail. “Now if you would kindly please get out of my sight. You are _not_ helping me get my stress levels down.”

Roderich’s brusque reply didn’t even deter Gilbert and the man continued to prattle on. “You haven’t even heard my idea yet. I promise it won’t end up as last time and it’s rather harmless! Trust me; it’ll take you down memory lane. Anyway, I was about to say that-“

“Gilbert,” the Austrian put his tea down and folded his arms. “My final answer is no. Today is one of the few days I have time to relax and after this day, I have to go back to signing papers.” He picked up his tea again and found to his disappointment that it had gone cold.

“This will be really quick,” Gilbert pleaded. “There won’t be any shenanigans or unexpected surprise. We’re just going to a place where we’ve been before. I recently just found it and it hasn’t changed at all!”

Roderich sighed in exasperation. He took of his glasses and polished them before putting them back on again. He was honest to goodness tired of his rival’s antics. There was countless times where the two (or three if Hungary decided to come along) were caught in the act. This one was just one of many to come.

“Oh, alright. I’ll go with you to… wherever we’re going, assuming you’re holding your end of the deal. Just let me put away this and we’ll leave.”

The Prussian grinned. “Heh, I knew you would do it!” His eyes landed on the table and met eyes with the uneaten chocolate cake. “Uh, would you mind if I ate that? Luddy kicked me out of the house earlier this morning for selling his entire drawer of underwear on the internet and I didn’t have any breakfast soo…”

Roderich stared.

“Is that a yes?”

And went back into his house without another word.

“I’ll take that as a yes!” Gilbert took the plate from the table and rushed back inside, his mouth half-full with chocolate cake.

* * *

The pair simply walked towards the mysterious place since Gilbert claimed that it wasn’t that far. They made an interesting sight to say the least. Roderich didn’t get out that much and was a rather slow walker while Gilbert was speeding ahead.  

“H-hey!” Roderich panted. Sweat was already starting to form on his face. His cravat was slightly askew against his cleanly-pressed shirt. “Wait up!”

Gilbert huffed in frustration. “Oh come on! We haven’t walked a half a mile yet. This wouldn’t be the case if you actually did something besides sit on your ass all day and ate sweets.” He took the last bite of the cake and threw it into a trashcan.

Roderich glared. “You know what, I’ll just go back home to do something better than being dragged all around Vienna with you!” He turned his back and walked in the opposite direction.

“Do you know how to go back to your own house?”

“…Yes.”

“Your house is to the left, not straight ahead,” he shrugged. “Just letting you know that before you get lost in your own capital - _again._ But I however, won’t be helping you.”

The Austrian’s face turned a bright red. “Well, I knew that.”

Gilbert rolled his eyes. “Yeah right. You even get lost on the way to your own bedroom.” He grabbed Roderich’s arm and half-dragged him. “Now c’mon, only a quarter of a mile to go!”

He was certainly lucky that Roderich’s house was located in the outskirts of Vienna. If it was located in the centre of the city, the trip would’ve been exceedingly long with Roderich’s athletic ability, or lack thereof. 

The cityscape faded in the distance and was replaced by vast fields of farms and grass. The sky and sun was already orange. It took them twenty minutes to cross the distance of a mile rather than the ten that Gilbert expected. Time didn’t matter anyway. They were here and that was what mattered.

They reached a grassy hill that rose in a gentle slope. It was surrounded by brown picket fences, but besides that, it was completely calm and empty. A gentle wind was blowing, ruffling their brown and white hairs.

Roderich scrunched his eyebrows, as if in deep thinking. “Isn’t this the place where you, I, and Elizabeta used to play as children? It seems very familiar… You brought me out here for this?”

“Are you kidding me? I bring you out a mile from your house and I get this reaction from you?”

“It’s just a hill Gilbert. I haven’t thought about this place in years, centuries even.”

“It’s _just_ hill?” Gilbert repeated, but with a stronger tone. “This was the place where we spent our childhood at, before our lives had war and destruction.”

“To be fair, our lives were relatively chaotic back in the day. Remember how you harassed me and Switzerland had to drag me out of them?”

“That’s water under the bridge. We’re all cool now,” Gilbert said quickly. “But that’s not the point. The point was to reminisce about the good old days before our lives got consumed by diplomatic duties. Wasn’t that what you were going to do today?”

“I was before you rudely interrupted me!” Roderich fumed. “Honestly, it’s the 21st century. It’s about time that you learn your manners.”

He took a step forward in an attempt to get a better look at Gilbert but only succeeded in tripping over his feet and crashing into him, which sent both of them tumbling down the slope.

The two rolled down the slope of the hill with both of them holding onto each other for dear life. Everything was spinning as they spun a full 360 over and over again. A string of curses could be heard as they tumbled down the grass and to the bottom of the hill.

Gilbert was the first to spring up from the ground and laughed heartedly, forgetting the arguments that lead them here in the first place. “Ah, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” He flicked stray strands of grass off his clothes and dusted himself off. “You okay there Roddy? Any of your delicate facial features broken?”

Roderich felt the ground as if he was searching for something.“I’m fine Gilbert. Now help me find my glasses. They dropped during the fall – and don’t call me ‘Roddy.’ You know I hate that nickname.” 

“You don’t need them. Last time I checked, you have perfect eyesight.”

“But I look rather plain without my glasses.”

Gilbert snorted. “Of course this would be an appearance issue. That’s typical of you.” He took a step forward and felt something hard crushed under the heel of his boot. “…and it appears that I have found them.” He picked them up with care and handed it to Roderich.

“Thank you.” The Austrian picked himself up and dusted himself out. A slight shiver ran through his body once he found how many strands of grass and dirt stains were on his once-pristine clothing. Pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose, he stared at the orange horizon.

“The sky looks pretty today, doesn’t it?” Roderich observed. The whole area was bathed in a yellow-orange light. The fireflies were beginning to appear and danced their merry dance. “I’ve never really noticed how beautiful it is.”

“You would know if you actually went outside instead of lounging around in your house all day,” Gilbert said. “Not all of its pollution and dangerous thugs waiting to steal your money.”

“You’re right at that point.” Roderich hesitated. “And this wasn’t that bad of a trip. We did have some good memories here…”

“Like the time I pushed you into a muddy puddle and you didn’t stop didn’t stop crying until you got new clothes?”

“Not that one,” Roderich winced as he remembered that memory. “The other ones where we played tag and hide-and-go seek.”

Gilbert shrugged. “Same difference. I miss those times, don’t you?”

“We may not agree on a lot of things but with that statement I do. There are times where I want to go back to those times where we were carefree and had no responsibilities.”

“Don’t us all Roderich, don’t we all? But that’s what countries are for, to protect their people and ensure their safety and happiness. We’re old men Roddy and we’re past our prime. The best we can do is to watch over our people and defend them when needed so that their children can experience the things we once did.”

Roderich smiled for the first time that evening. “Indeed it is, Gilbert. Indeed it is. We’ve survived this long, and I don’t think we’ll go away anytime soon. We’ve experienced many lifetimes and things that will never be experienced again, hopefully. Let this be a memorial to those times.”

And the two men stood there on the base of the hill that they loved so dearly and watched the orange twilight fade into darkness.

 

**Author's Note:**

> For the Frying Pangle Exchange on Tumblr for user hakanaplz. I had fun with your prompt and it was a joy to write. I hope it meets your expectations!


End file.
